This coming Sunday, October 26th, many churches of several different traditions will all celebrate something called the Reformation. But what is the Reformation? And what was it all about? In a single word, the Reformation was about basics. reformsplash

There was a time in the life of the church, back in the 16th century, when the church lost its focus. There were financial issues that the church was facing so they began selling papers of pardon, called indulgences. These indulgences were meant to act as get out of hell free cards. The thinking was that people were afraid of hell and afraid that their loved ones might one day end up there. And in an effort to raise money and offer a false comfort to the people, the church sold these indulgences to give the buyer the assurance that their sins, or the sins of someone they loved, were pardoned simply for buying these papers.

The problem? This isn’t what Jesus taught about his kingdom and forgiveness. He taught that it wasn’t up to us. Jesus promised that his kingdom didn’t operate the way the world operates. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were what was necessary for our pardon. It wasn’t something that a paper could win for us. The closest followers of Jesus that wrote the rest of the New Testament talk about this as grace.

Simply put grace is getting the good we don’t deserve. The Reformation took the church back to this basic teaching. Martin Luther, and the other reformers, taught and rallied in the churches to raise a clear understanding that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and we know this through Scripture alone. 

The whole of this Reformation message was getting us back to the most basic beliefs of the church. Luther was really pushing, not a new agenda, but an truth that is as old as time. It was the message that is woven through the pages of the bible. It’s a message that Jesus taught clearly. It’s a message that Paul writes to just about every church with which he interacts in the New Testament.

Grace…Faith…Christ…Scripture…that’s what the Reformation was really about. Making the main thing the main thing once again. Here’s what it all means:

Saved by grace alone means that forgiveness and heaven are not something we can earn or buy. It means that these amazing gifts are ours, not because we deserve them or have earned them, but because Jesus gave them to us exactly when we didn’t deserve them. Grace means we can’t earn it or buy it. We just receive it. But how do we receive something like this?

Through faith alone is the only way we can receive such a gift. We have a hard time understanding free in our culture. We try to add works to it, but they aren’t necessary and they even detract from the power of God’s grace. The only way to see this saving work of God in its truth and purity is through a faithful leaning into God’s promises. Martin Luther was trying to pull the church back to a fervent trust in the promises of God. Then the works we do will naturally flow out of our faith.

In Christ along as known through Scripture alone is the final piece of this Reformation story. The issue for the reformers was that the church had started to look to a multitude of places to find its way through life. The church focused on its own teachings, doctrines, and practices. They lost focus of the primary thing upon which the church was built – Jesus! The whole of the Reformation was to bring Jesus back to the core of the life of the church.

It was a terribly tumultuous time for the church in the mid 16th century, but it was essential for the church to remain true to its purpose. When the church loses its focus on Jesus and his work for us, we become irrelevant to the world. When we teach a gospel other than the message of Jesus, we become unnecessary to our culture and community. Martin Luther and the other reformers knew this and they did everything they could to bring the church back to its most basic foundation.

Are we on the verge of a new Reformation? Has the church lost its true love? Have we replaced the true teachings of Jesus with the manmade doctrines of our traditions? The answer in a lot of cases is unfortunately – yes.

As I look out at the landscape of the American church, I see a church operating as an institution not a kingdom of people grounded in the grace and truth of Jesus. In many cases we’ve replaced the truth of sin and grace with some teaching about moral happiness. In other cases, we’ve replaced that same truth with a tradition we’ve grown to love or a teaching that we’ve come up with based on our understanding of the bible. We’ve not focused on Jesus’ death and resurrection but instead have been focusing on our traditions and rituals. Much like the days of the Reformation, it’s time to get back to the basics.

It’s time for followers of Jesus to get back to a point where we cling with faith alone to God’s grace alone in Christ alone as we hear about it in Scripture alone. It’s time to reform our thinking. May we all live the reformation daily as we get back to the most basic foundation of our faith – Jesus. Happy Reformation!